Presentations to Share Progress

This week, my students completed brief presentations about their progress on their 20Time Projects. I think other students really enjoyed hearing the updates - I know I did! I permitted questions, and some of the questions students had for their classmates were great! Some students have made some significant progress. It really was a great day!

Below are some pictures of students' progress. There is one that I would like to highlight first, however. At the beginning of this project, I had a student tell me that he wanted to make a guitar and improve his skills. I had a few questions for him: Are you parents ok with spending money for the supplies? He replied that he talked to them about it, and it was ok. Then I asked, "Do you have any idea if this can even be done?" He said he thought he could do it, and that he'd like to try. That was enough for me. I told him to go for it and that failure is an option - he may not successfully make a guitar this time, but he will certainly learn a lot!  Well, pictured below is what the student brought in for his presentation this week:

DO YOU SEE THIS? This student made a guitar! He isn't done - he still needs to sand it and such, but I'm so stinking excited! It had me wondering that if not for this project, would he have ever done this? Maybe, maybe not. But how awesome is it that he got to do this for English class!

Pictured below is a no-sew blanket made by two students working together. Their goal is to make about 15 of them to donate to local shelters. This is their second blanket.

I have one student who is working to educate people about Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder. Her project involves and presentation and artwork. Today, she distributed ribbons to show support for those suffering. I'm wearing mine as I write this!

This student and his two partners are creating a website to help incoming freshman navigate the school. It will have a school map with teachers' names on their rooms. I'm a little worried that they may not finish, but they still have time!

 

I could go on and on bragging about my students and their progress. I think they are getting a little bored with it, but I also know they are making progress.

Update on My Own 20Time Project

My intention had been to record the presentations for a future video, but the presentations were so brief that recording them, grading them, and moving on to the next student proved to be too much. I've been able to interview students casually as they work on their projects, though, so hopefully I'll get enough to record them.

What I would really like to do is record their final presentations. These will occur beginning May 17. Unfortunately, that means the video won't be complete for the students to see this school year, but I will finish it over the summer and can share the link with them.

Next, I will need to make arrangements to obtain a tripod and camera so I can record students' final presentations.

Where Have I Been?`

Holy cow! It has been TOO LONG since my last post. Instead of focusing on my own project and blog, I've been focusing on my students' work and doing other teachery things. Busy, busy! In my last blog I stated that I would interview students for another video. I still haven't done that. While students are working on their projects, it is so quiet that I fear my interviewees would feel a bit awkward about doing it. I've considered two options: 1) Having students come during Academic Period to be interviewed. Unfortunately, it's still super quiet; however, I could do it in the hallway. 2) Asking Mrs. Smith to monitor class on a few 20Time days while I take kids out to interview them. I emailed Mrs. Smith (see below), and she agreed to monitor the class for me while I interview. We will discuss details after Spring Break.

My plan for the next couple of weeks is as follows: 1) Create questions for the interviews. 2) Finalize days with Mrs. Smith  3) Begin interviewing students. It's possible I will get done interviewing, at which time I will begin editing another video.

Below are some pictures of students' progress on their projects that they posted on their blogs. Some are doing an excellent job!

                                 



  

Sharing Passion

It's been an interesting few days since my last update as I've been forced outside of my comfort zone. The crazy part is that it's not so bad! I teach public speaking, so one would assume that I have few, if any, qualms about speaking in public. In many situations I'm perfectly comfortable speaking in front of others, but for some reason I'm more than a little hesitant to present in front of colleagues. In fact, over my 20-year career, I can't remember ever officially presenting to colleagues.

Recently, I made the mistake (I say that in jest...mostly) of sharing my practice video with the Director of Secondary Education, Stacie Moore. (Stacie has been a mentor to me as I've made some significant changes in my teaching methods.) Before I knew it, she had roped me into presenting it to the Language Arts department here at the high school. She must have Jedi-mind-tricked me or something because I have no recollection of saying yes. I threw together a quick Google Slide presentation and presented it at a department meeting. It actually seemed to go quite well, and I received a lot of positive feedback afterward (especially about the 20Time Project). I love the project so much that I really just enjoy talking about it to anyone who will listen.

Remember the Jedi-mind-tricking I alluded to just a moment ago? Well, Stacie has this mind-tricking skill down to a science. (I must discover her secret!) Yesterday, I presented to the Literacy Council, which is a group of teachers from all grade levels. How Stacie got me to do this is boggling! They're an amazing group of educators, and I'm truly inspired at every meeting. When Literacy Council began last year, I quickly discovered that I had a lot to learn; I settled quite comfortably into the role of learner. The fact that I ended up presenting turned out to be a pretty powerful moment for me. This is a group that I have incredible respect for, and if they took anything away from my presentation I will consider that a compliment and a success. It wasn't a big deal - other teachers do it all the time - but it was a big deal to me! I was pretty nervous to present, but it went well and I again received a lot of positive feedback.

The point is that I've been sharing my practice video and the project with others. Being comfortable with sharing all of this was one of my end-goals, and I accomplished that a lot sooner than I anticipated. I still need to create a better video with better lighting and sound. I intended to interview students today, but I ended up helping students with their projects instead. Next week, I will definitely interview some students. I intend to edit the interviews that I collect next week also. Speaking of the students, most of their projects are going quite well. Most students have secured a mentor. (Thank you to those who have volunteered to help them!) The students are in the early stages of the process still, but I'm seeing progress. One student brought in a sample of one of her recipes, potato candy (what?!), and it was excellent!

This project is seriously so fun! I'm already looking forward to next Friday!

My First Movie

I've actually made a lot of progress on my 20Time project. I've met with Mr. May a couple of times, and I'm thinking I'm just going to roll along without the fancy equipment. Most people don't have access to it, nor will I in the future, so it makes sense to use more realistic equipment. I've been using iMovie on my phone, and it is relatively user-friendly and seems to yield decent results. I might invest in a microphone of some kind, though. I recorded almost all of my students' pitches in order to create my first video. Click on the video below to view it!

Not bad for my first attempt, right? There are some things I need to work on for my final video. First, I need to work on sound. It is inconsistent so I have to adjust the volume as it's playing. Not good. I think a microphone might help with this. Also, each individual clip was edited too tightly. I didn't realize that the transitions would cut into each video, so next time I need to leave an extra second or two at the end of each clip. I'm glad I did a practice one first so that I know what I'm doing on my final video! 

What's next? First I need to continue taking video and pictures as my students are working because who knows what I'll want to include. In order to do this, I need to free up some space on my phone, or perhaps start using my iPad. Next, I want to conduct some interviews/conversations with students for my final video, so I need to be thinking about what questions I will create. All in all, it's been really fun working on this so far!

My Project Pitch

(**example for students**) For my 20Time Project, I will be learning how to create a quality YouTube video. I picked this project for a few reasons. First, since I’ve put a lot of work, research, and planning into creating this project, I wanted to have some way of documenting its triumphs and roadblocks. Second, although I have posted videos to YouTube, I have not edited video and added music. The closest I have come to doing anything like this was when I created my daughter’s graduation video.

Audience and Mentors: The audience for my project is primarily colleagues. I will share it with my fellow English teachers at MHS in addition to some teachers in other districts who are curious about 20-Time. In addition, I will likely use the video to show future students some examples of 20-Time Projects. Possible mentors for my project include Mr. Fries, who teaches Digital Design, and Mr. May, the Media Specialist.

Timeline: Using the backward planning model, I came up with the following tentative timeline:

January 28-29: Record some students’ pitches

January 15-22: Touch base with mentor, research how to make videos and watch other quality videos.

February: Continue recording students at various stages in project, take pics of blogs, etc.

March: Continue researching and working with mentor

April: Begin putting video together

May: Final product can’t be finished until students do Ted Talks. Video completion set for 5/19. Will be able to show partial video prior to that.

Potential Resources:

• Mr. May, Media Specialist
• Mr. Fries, Digital Design teacher
• Digital Design students
• http://www.digitaltrends.com/computing/how-to-make-a-youtube-video/
• "How to Make Money from Viral Videos" by Dan Fletcher (found on InfOhio)
• http://www.makeyoutubevideo.com/
• Several YouTube videos

If I create a completed video, I will consider myself successful, even if it isn’t that great. Since it will be my first time, I realize it won’t be perfect. In addition, I can always go back and make some changes to improve it. Next, I will show the video to several people, including my mentor and my family to get their honest feedback. Finally, I will show the video to my students, the stars of the video. All of this feedback will help me determine if it is a quality video. The ultimate success will be feeling proud enough of the video to share it with colleagues.

Pitch Perfect!

Most of my students are doing a great job with their pitches! Some need to learn some presentation skills, but their ideas are great overall. The students are evaluating each other's ideas and providing feedback. From there, students and I will determine if their ideas needs tweaking or if they can move forward.

I did some recording today for my own 20Time Project. I decided that I'm going to create my own video of students' 20Time pitches. This will serve as practice for the larger, more involved video that I'm working on with Mr. May. Speaking of Mr. May, he recorded today as well during 1st and 2nd period. Slowly but surely we will get footage for the video.  Here are some shots of the pitches:

I did some research (see my Works Consulted page on this blog) on how to create and edit videos using an iPhone. I'm recording using iMovie for now. I'm looking forward to playing around with the editing. The pitches will continue tomorrow.

Pitches and Progress

Today, I introduced The Pitch to the students and did an example. The students will be doing their pitches on Thursday and Friday. I will be sure to include some pictures and maybe even video of some of their great ideas! The students are making progress. They worked on their blogs and most of them are looking great! Some students have already started their pitches. Here are the students working diligently on their blogs and pitches:

Regarding my YouTube video project, I have GOT to meet with Mr. May so we can start recording or at least planning the recording. I decided that in the meantime I'll just record with my phone and hope that I get some decent footage. One concern that I have is the availability of equipment. I assume there isn't just an extra TV camera just laying around for me to use whenever I feel like it. Therefore, my current plan is to record with my phone but still do editing and music.

Still looking forward to the process! SO excited for the pitches!

My First Reaction to 20Time

**Note for non-student readers. This post is a sample for my students.**

My initial reaction after I began researching 20Time was hesitation. The project sounded great, but I wondered if I could pull it off. Giving students that much autonomy can be scary for a teacher. The thought of all of the planning was a bit overwhelming; then again, I love to do that kind of thing so it was also invigorating. Since first discovering the project idea, my thoughts have changed from hesitation to excitement. I'm really enjoying it so far. The most difficult part of the process so far has been explaining it to the students. It's so hard to put into words, and the creators recommend that you avoid giving examples initially. I felt like it was very hard to explain this to students without examples. The best part of the process so far has been doing the project along side the students. I like the idea of doing my own project so I know what the students are facing. For some reason, I especially like using Google Classroom. This is my first attempt using it, and it's very user-friendly. I will definitely continue to use it next year. Here is a screen shot of my Google Classroom:

As I proceed through the project, I anticipate organizing my time being a challenge. There is a lot going on at once with this project, and it's easy to do the "fun stuff" first while the more difficult tasks get pushed back. I'm so excited about this project that I have told anyone who will listen. I'm not exaggerating. I've told my daughters, my husband, other English teachers at MHS, English teachers at other schools, teachers of other disciplines here at MHS, etc. Students have the option of working with a group or alone. I have always struggled with what to do in these situations. Working in a group creates some additional stress and puts tasks in other people's hands. Sometimes I'd rather just do it myself so I know it gets done. Then again, working alone can be overwhelming. I think for this project I would prefer to work alone. Overall, I'm excited about 20Time, and I'm looking forward to starting the actual project!

Library with Mr. May

Today, students went to the library for an introduction to all of the resources available to them through the MHS library. They learned about resources such as Infohio that will help them as they research their topics. In addition, students learned the six ways to determine if a website is credible. The elusive tree octopus, pictured below, made an appearance as well!

Regarding my own project, I have completed my pitch, which I will show students tomorrow as an example. The project I chose to pitch is creating a video on my students' 20Time projects. Super excited! They will be working on theirs next week, and they will present them on Thursday and Friday. After the pitches, students will officially pick their projects and off we go!

Blogs and Brainstorms!

It's taking a while to get up and running, but so far it seems to be going pretty well. The students and I have set up our blogs and have begun following each other. Students must have at least five followers and must follow at least five other students' blogs. The students don't have any content on their blogs yet, but they will over the next week or two. Here are some samples of what they have so far:

This is a work in progress, but soon they will add their first post. It's amazing how the background impacts the vibe of the blog.

Currently, students are working through the brainstorming process. I'm seeing some interesting ideas, such as learning how to knit, organizing a food drive, helping the family eat healthier, making dog toys for an animal shelter, learning how to juggle, starting a study group, cooking dinner for the family once a week, learning yoga, planning a trip to Italy, learning how to build a computer, donating books to underprivileged children, and more!  Here is my sample brainstorming. We will be heading to the library this week (Wednesday and Thursday) for an orientation with Mr. May, and then they will be ready to choose their topics and move forward! I'm still really excited!

Introducing 20-Time

I just introduced the project to 1st period. Hard to read. They seem less than enthused. In fairness, it was before 8:00 a.m. when it's a bit harder to show enthusiasm for anything except for coffee. When I asked for a show of hands of how many students were at least somewhat excited about the project, many raised their hands. They asked a few questions. I think they just felt sorry for me. Time will tell!

2nd period. Yeah, so they seemed even less enthusiastic.  They didn't ask any questions. When I asked for a show of hands as to how many of them were excited, about 3 students raised their hands. Apparently they didn't even feel bad enough for me to lie! They'll come around...right? RIGHT?

4/5th period: This class seemed a bit more enthusiastic. Just look at these pictures!

 

Ok, full disclosure: I totally had them pose for this, and THEN I asked them if they were excited. However, when I asked them if they think they'll be excited once they decide on a project, almost everyone raised his/her hand!  Yay!

We won't do much with the project until the week after next, so stay tuned!

Here We Go!

Well, I've decided to have my students work on a Google 20-Time Project for the remainder of the year. I love trying new ideas in the classroom, and I'm especially excited about this one! In order to be the most helpful to them, I've decided to complete my own 20-Time Project alongside my students. I plan to work a step ahead of them so that I can address any potential issues in advance. I used this website as my primary inspiration for the project and have adapted it to meet my needs. (Actually, I should correct that. My daughter was the primary inspiration for this project. She completed something like this in 8th grade and absolutely loved it. She even ended up presenting to the school board! Seeing how engaged she was in the project made me want to do it with my own students.) Anyway, I've spent several weeks researching this project in preparation for introducing it to my students. It launches tomorrow! On this blog, I will be sharing the progress of my own 20-Time Project in addition to sharing triumphs and struggles I encounter as the teacher. I'm really looking forward to this! Prezi: Introduction to Google 20-Time for Mrs. Saylor's Class

The Prezi introducing students to 20Time. Click on the link above for the link to the actual Prezi